UConn Men, Under A Cloud Of Controversy, Have Key Game At Temple

The Huskies come off their win over SMU to face Temple in an AAC game Sunday in Philadelphia.

The UConn-Temple men’s basketball game will draw a lot of attention on Sunday night, though not the kind either team, and particularly the Huskies, would want.

The media will flock to this otherwise nondescript American Athletic Conference game, and when it is over Ollie will be in front of reporters for the first time since news of the NCAA’s investigation of his program broke. His answers, non-answers, body language, tone of voice, all of it will be under the lights, after the lights on the court are dimmed.

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And as Ollie steels himself for that, he will also have to prepare his team for a tough road game the Huskies need to keep this season’s aspirations alive.

“I don’t know much about what went on [regarding the story],” said Temple coach Fran Dunphy, who has had a long, warm friendship with Ollie, “but certainly Kevin is a strong man, and he deserves to be strong because he’s had a tremendous amount of success in everything he has done. So whatever is an issue at this point will be rectified by his strong understanding of what his job is, and what he wants to get accomplished.”

This cloud figures to hang over the Huskies for some time, since the NCAAis known to take its time, even with relatively minor matters. With the Huskies struggling over the last season and a half, and Ollie a target for frustrated fans, his strength has been tested.

Kevin [Ollie] is a strong man, and he deserves to be strong because he’s had a tremendous amount of success in everything he has done.

Temple coach Fran Dunphy

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But his team has pressed on, despite five losses of 20 or more points. Coming off back-to-back blowouts against Memphis and Villanova, UConn got off the mat to beat SMU, the defending conference champ, on Thursday in Storrs. Terry Larrier, who missed that game recovering from nasal surgery, will miss this one, too.

“That’s a terrific win they had against SMU,” Dunphy said, “and I’m sure they’ll try to build on that.”

What the Huskies (11-9, 4-3 in the AAC) haven’t been able to do is string a few conference wins together and separate themselves from the middle of the standings. With only one true road win all season, at Tulane on Jan. 13, the Huskies headed south to play the unpredictable Owls.

“Fran is a hell of a coach,” Ollie said following the SMU game. “He’s a great friend of mine. I love competing against him and I know he’s going to have his team ready. … They’ve been in every game. Last game, Cincinnati, they weren’t in it. But at home, they’ve been playing very, very well. So we have to make sure we play the 3-point line, make sure we rebound, make sure we execute. We’re going to probably see a lot of man-to-man [defense], we’re going to have to put in a lot of pick-and-rolls. They’re small, so they’re probably going to switch a lot of things, so we’re going to have to take advantage of those switches.”

Temple (10-10, 2-6) posted nonconference wins against Auburn, Clemson, South Carolina and Wisconsin, but started conference play 0-4. Then the Owls won at SMU, where the Mustangs rarely lose. They lost to Cincinnati 55-53, then lost the rematch, 75-42. And they lost to UCF 60-39.

“We’re a similar team [to UConn] that’s had some very good wins and some interesting losses,” Dunphy said. “We feel like we’ve got a team that can win a lot of games, but we’re a group that if we don’t pay attention to details we can stumble, and we’ve done that a couple of times. Whatever has happened in the past has happened, and we need to look to the future.”

During Dunphy’s time, Temple has had a habit of making late season runs, so as the end of January nears, it can become more dangerous. The Owls are a veteran team, with shooters who have hurt the Huskies in the past, like Josh Brown (8.3 points per game), Shizz Alston Jr. (12.9), Quinton Rose (14.1) and Obi Enechionyia (11.4). Brown, a fifth-year senior who missed nearly all last season with injuries, beat the Huskies with a memorable shot at the XL Center on Jan. 5, 2015.

“With Shizz and all the other guys,” Ollie said, “Josh is back [from injuries], he really helps them off the bounce. We’ve got to get back and play solid defense.”

When UConn has played solid defense, they’ve posted their more impressive wins of the season. Now at No. 73 in RPI, a key metric for NCAA Tournament consideration, the Huskies can move up with a top-50 road win; Temple is 47th.

“It’s not an easy chore to win in this league,” Dunphy said. “The travel is interesting. We have our issues, everybody does with the travel, but you’ve got to play well, you’ve got to get it done. Everybody’s capable of knocking somebody off.”

Temple, at least, is UConn’s closest conference opponent. But there is still the Owls’ cozy home-court advantage, and that hovering cloud of controversy, the potentially dangerous distraction, for the Huskies to overcome.